A couple of old horses face off today in L.A. Just about 14 hours after the conclusion of Game 1, the Phillies and Dodgers will do battle once again with Pedro Martinez taking the hill against ex-Phil Vicente Padilla.

Pedro has not pitched since September 30 against Houston, so lets hope there isn’t too much rust. He has tossed only seven innings since throwing 130 pitches against the New York Mets back on September 13. There is some pressure on Martinez to come out of the gate quickly, without incident, because he has a penchant for giving up early runs. Opponents hit three home runs in nine first-innings against Pedro this season with the Phillies. He’s given up a total of six runs in those nine starts. After that, he normally calms down, as he has proven with his four runs allowed from the fourth to the sixth innings of his starts.

Vicente Padilla is a surprising start in Game 2 for the Dodgers. The guess here is that Joe Torre did not want Padilla pitching in Philly on a cold night with hostile fans berating him. Smart move. Padilla has been nothing short of brilliant since being picked up, going 4-0 through seven starts. However, he struggles mightily in the middle innings, something the Phillies offense will surely pick up on. The Phillies have scored 18 runs between the fourth and sixth innings in five playoff games in ’09. Look for the trend to continue, although a few early on couldn’t hurt either.

The Good: Brad Lidge coming in and nailing it down for yet another save. Is he back to his old ways? Also, Ryan Howard now has 8 RBI in five games this postseason. Look out, Reggie Jackson.

Your Gameday Beer – Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
While enjoying this afternoon game, grab some delicious Dogfish 120. It’ll make you hop, for sure. It is continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month & aged for another month on whole-leaf hops. The 20% ABV make this more like jungle juice than beer, but it should give you a nice dayload as the Phils look to take Game 2. Enjoy with some charred burgers and beans, but prepare for a rough Saturday morning. Hop to it. – By Pat

I think of all the games, this is the one that’s most difficult to call. I have no idea what we’re going to get from Pedro, and I don’t think the Dodgers know what they are going to get with Padilla. That said, we’re playing with house money today. I’ll take the 1-1 split heading to Philly, but boy would a 2-0 lead be amazing.

What’s interesting is that all of their starters have played in at least 3 years of playoff series, with Ibanez, Werth, and Feliz having prior playoff experience with other teams.

The two figures that really jump out at you are Werth, who has one of the highest playoff OPS numbers of all time, and Rollins, who has been very poor and who has no business leading off, as he has just one walk versus 8 strikeouts in his last 10 playoff games.

Ruiz also has been mister clutch in the playoffs, and with Howard’s surge this year, his playoff numbers are very close to his career regular season figures.

I am really hoping pedro can come out and be sharp right away. even when he was pitching during the season he often let up some first inning runs. hopefully after 26 or 27 days off i forget which he can start sharp.

Figgins’ o’fer against Boston is the only thing saving J-Roll from being the worst lead-off guy left standing( p-off stat wise) in the Final Four… J-Roll/Vic have to get on base often and early for this O to be consist. productive….

the announcer said big night by ramirez last night. Maybe you could say a good night. he did have a 2 run homer, but didn’t he go 1-5 and had two rbi situations where he made the last out of the inning? A big night would’ve been if he could’ve come through on at least another occasion, beings that they lost and all

Manny is the premier “superstar” in the series so they need to promote him to draw attention to the series. Its business. I don’t care if they start chanting “Phillies suck” in the booth along with the classless fans so long as the Phils win the game.

I kind of hope Ruiz goes 0 for 150 at some point next year so I can come here and explain baseball to alot of you people.
Ruiz is team MVP every year if he hits .150. Never mind how clutch he is.
We contend because of Ruiz, Utley and Victorino and Rollins defense.
Not your mashers.

That is a great play by Pedro. He had plenty of time to get Martin at second. Did not feel comfy making that throw. I am just suprised that Blanton was our top starter and has not pitched in a post season start. Anybody else suprised??

Oh i agree with you joedad it’s just annoying..lol…actually the announcers haven’t really been bothering me, i just watch the game and don’t really care what they say, i was just paying more attention because everyone else is complaining..lol
Jeff because blanton can come out of the pen and martinez can’t. Although if they don’t need blanton today he should get the game 4 start. That’s just my thought anyways

ray, i heard the TBS calls on the Torealba double and the Howard double and was shocked at the difference in excitement levels so I believe you. I can’t hear the announcers personally because my kids are loud today.

Yeah but you know what joedad i usually don’t pay attention to the announcers because when we are scoring I’m yelling anyways and don’t hear them. But after hearing everyone complaining I tried to notice more. The difference between manny’s homer call and howard’s call today was enormous. You’re right though, who gives a crap as long as they win.

Howard is great. But most teams have a slugging 1b man.
Defence in the middle especially catchers wins.
Ruiz is better on his worst day than Piazza was on his best. Really 99.999% of fans will never get that. I wont argue that at this poiint anyway. To me my point is proven.

Ok if pedro and the phils were getting lit up we would be getting posts left and right complaining, now they are playing really well and what have we got? Is there a jinx factor involved here or is it that nobody is happy unless they have something to bitch about?

Ray its that way all year. When its good Its me and 1 other person.
Let the bullpen implode and you will have 500 hate posts. And not just ones of me having fun calling people Ryan K and Cole Chambles.
Mean ones lol

Well let’s remember that things are going good now and no trolls, so if they get the oppurtunity to come in here(Please No), but if they do, just ignore them becasue they showed who they are. Things go good for the phils and they are nonexistant punks hiding

Very different game today than yesterday.This ump has a wide strike zone while yesterdays ump had a postage stamp size zone. Todays pitchers are on of just off the corners and not pitching over the plate. Hitters are a bit gassed after playing 4 hours last nigh and turning around to play the next afternoon in 90+ degree heat.

The Phillies are giving away a lot of at-bats. So far this series they have played pretty poorly. But they won the first game, and have a 1-0 lead in the 7th. All the pressure is on the Dodgers. The Phillies are in a great position right now.

Why is Charlie taking Pedro out? WHY???
The offense has been flat and one pinch-hitter isn’t going to change it. Greg Dobbs is going to get out and then we’ll be praying for Madson and Lidge to somehow both be lights-out.

It would help if they managed to score more than one run off VIcente padilla..

Chase Utley, to be honest, looks like he got paid some extra money by someone…to throw the ball away yesterday and today. Im serious. It looked that bad.

also. Pedro Feliz – WITHOUT A DOUBT – should be released in the offseason and they should pursue Mark DeRosa or Chone Figgins. They also need a better utility player because of Chase Utleys blatant durability issues late in the season.

That said, Pedro Martinez was dazzling today and the Phillies are still going to win this game I think.

Holy shitballs. WTF is wrong with him? Talk about bb balls…coming up really small Chutley. This one is on Chahley unfortunately. What the hell is he thinking with Pedro? Really a brutally bad decision. I’m sure we’ll get one of his stellar explanations after this loss. Epic Fail.

It’s friday night and I”m home obsessed with seeing the phillies lose and then posting on this site finally after the game is tied. Wow we could’ve really used pedro again this year and maybe we wouldn’t have been as bad as the nationals.

Heres a great idea. you have a pitcher that has pretty much completely SHUT DOWN the Dodgers for 7 innings, barely showed signs of cracking, and had under 90 pitches, and you have a bad bullpen, lets take the starter out. DUH. Well Lets go back to Philly and win those 2.

Also, these TBS announcers are actually worse than Buck, if thats possible. These guys are total shills. The on field reporter, the one with the PINK blazer, has the worst suit on ever in history, lol.

You guys are too funny… If that was Ryan Howard you all would have a million more posts calling him every name in the book… Jimmy was called all kinds of names the other day on a mistake that wasn’t even his fault…. Phillies Nation?? More like racists nation…. I’m done with this site!

No, PAL. Im calling for someone who can play second (De Rosa) to be signed because late in the season UTLEY wears down and gets worse. And PEDRO FELIZ is DONE and he should be let go in the offseason so they can go and get someone better.

The joy of being a fan of a winning team is today offset by watching my team crap all over itself, like a child with the runs in a new Easter outfit.
I feel tremendous anxiety and anger, mostly at Charlie Manual for replacing Pedro Martinez. Then, Chase Utley’s abysmal play at second base. We may have lost the momentum and our confidence is shaken. Our bullpen sucks and I need both a blood pressure pill and nerve pill. GO PHILS !!! It’s only one game. What good are the thrills without the pain. These are gooooood nerve pills !!!

I did not say that chief. I said he slows down at this time of year so they need someone to spell him once in a while SO THAT he can be well rested for OCTOBER baseball. But they have NOONE good enough to step in and do that really, in terms of backup middle infielders. They need to address that this winter.

First off Pedro had a low pitch count. Second to start the inning pedro is guarding the line. I hate that. If he hits it down the line god bless him. That would of been an easy out. The chase. The rest is history.

Shoot, they blew it now. The phillies DESERVED this because of how they played. Charlie Manuel has overmanaged his way out of a victory today perhaps. This bullpen is SHOT though, and it needs to be rebuild TOTALLY in the offseason. They can start by resigning Park.

Yes, and I stand by that comment Georgie (by the way, yesteday Cole pitched effectively enough for that win, yesterday being close is also on Utley) but look through my comments in the past and today, have I EVER called to get rid of Cole Hamels? If you are going to use my comments against me, I hope you know them.

Also Georgie, did I say I was giving Utley a free pass? I admit I am at work and have to watch it on MLB.com, so if Utley made the throw and no one would have scored, than its on him. I didnt see it, it didnt seem like it mattered with how I had to watch it. Unlike you, I can call out a player for playing poorly, and STILL not want to get rid of him.

I think those guys were out partying in LA while the rest of the team went home, they all know they’re burnt out, that’s why Cole looked at them like that, and why Pedro shot that look out to Vic when that ball sort of dropped in front of him. Bad team karma now, crap.

mets88, seriously, I am curious why you are on Phillies Nation posting idiotic comments as a band wagon Dodgers fan if the Mets were as HORRIBLE as they were? They were probably the 2nd WORST team in the NL. Are at least darn close, and you cant even talk about Injuries.

Yeah, LA cant play in the cold, we do know that from last year. We WILL win this series in 5 games. In every series, the Phillies have a tanker game like this. Its ok. Yes, it was BS that LA won this game. Its just maddening like Game 2 against Colorado was…BUT the Phillies will win the next three games and win this series because DESPITE the flaws they have, they ARE a better team.

yea dont talk about injuries lol when your leadoff man and shorstop your cleanup hitter 2 starters center fielder all star all star setup man miss basically the whole year. yea forget about the injuries you dont deserve to call yourself a fan if you no that little about baseball to think that u dumb ass

what do you want me to do? I never get laid so I may as well come in here. By the way, did you guys see me here yesterday when the phillies were winning? Or today when the phillies were winning? NO of course not, i was hiding under my rock licking the dirt and eating the worms

Charlie for the Jeltz, no doubt. He totally shit the bed on this game. This team does not look good at all but ultimately, Charlie blew this one. Did I actually just see him laughing in the dugout with Werth (less) as the Phils were down to their last out? I couldn’t have seen that, could I? What a joke. This is the type of loss that causes teams to lose series.

Well first and foremost, Charlie should have left Pedro in there, Chase may never have had to make that throw, 2nd, Chase should have made that throw. Since Chase was put in that situation, he can blame only himself for that throw.

“yea forget about the injuries you dont deserve to call yourself a fan if you no that little about baseball to think that u dumb ass” Ya dumbass, even when some of those “awesome players” came back, the Mets continued to lose! See Phillies fans are blaming poor play instead of blaming injuries. Phillies have a hodge podge bullpen overall BECAUSE of injury, and yet WE are blaming POOR PLAY. If you are a REAL baseball fan instead of an ignorant moron you would realize Injuries happen. DUH.

Just wanted to come by and thank you guys for wasting a beautiful gem by Pedro. Vincente Padilla and crew just dealt a 1 to “the most powerful lineup in baseball”. If you want to blame anyone BTW, blame Chuck Manuel for pulling Pedro…we couldn’t touch him all day. We got us a series now folks!

Brian of CO-Leaving Pedro in wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game. Park did his job and Utley lost the game. And not to bitch but these announcers are pathetic. Someone let me know when they get the Dodgers’ d***s out of thier mouths.

Ed R, just like yesterday, the Dodgers didnt keep themselves in the game, the Phillies kept them in the game. The team is not playing well. They held on yesterday, regardless of Utley’s throw, but giving up two lead off singles in the 8th doesnt help either.

It is pretty sad that we have to use 5 pitchers to get 3 outs. Our BP is awful. You just know it won’t be clean whoever comes in the game. For the last 4 games bad stuff have happen late in the game. It is not a good sign. You also have to address the offense. Howard and Carlos are the only ones that are seeing the ball. Rollins is back to his old self, Werth just looks terrible and then there is Pedro, who hasn’t had a hit since last week. What is going on with this team.

Matt M, After seeing the play, true I blame Utley, but its still hard to say Park did his job by giving up 2 singles. The tying run is completely on Chase, but I still find it difficult to say Park did his job by giving up 2 straight singles, and by the way I said “Chase MAY never have had to make that throw”. How can you definativaly say “Leaving Pedro in wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game.” Is that really possible to say?

I would have been totally happy with a split in LA, but after seeing Martinez do so well today I really got greedy for getting both games. This loss is 100% on Chase Utley’s shoulders. I don’t know what the heck’s gotten into him. I have every confidence we’ll take two of the three (at least) in Philly, especially Game 3 with Lee pitching. But I want this series to end in 6 games because I have to be traveling next Saturday and won’t be able to see Game 7.

I don’t see why everyone thinks it’s charlies fault. The phillies beat themselves on a couple unearned runs. He took out Pedro because Pedro hasn’t pitched a game in a month and he is getting old. If he kept Pedro in and he gave up a run then you would all be singing the same tune. If the players Charlie choosed actually executed how they were supposed to, then we would have won the game, but chase gave up a costly error and will still be a hall of famet and happ gave up a walked in run and is still in the running for rookie of the year. So chalk it up as some some sloppy fielding and let’s
get them on Sunday! GO PHILS!!!

by the way charlie didnt screw this game up. here’s why:
He put Park in and the first hit was a play feliz always makes
They also had a sure double play in that inning that was botched.
Everyone forgets the reason why the first guy was on base?
Charlie over managing? It’s the friggin playoffs you throw everything you got out there and get your best match ups with pitcher against hitter. Two infield mistakes cost us the game. Although feliz wasn’t technically a mistake it’s a play he should make

I do not blame all the players who didnt hit. I do not blame charlie. I do not blame madson for walking in the go ahead run.
Its all on chase. all of it. and its 2 games in a row. Been any 2 game stretch ever he let in back to back like that?

I think constantly switching pitchers to play the righty/lefty odds is the most overrated tactic in baseball. A good pitcher can get a batter out no matter how well the batter can see the ball. Utley took a gem of a game and flushed it down the toilet. I think we can recover; this team is resiliant, and we are coming home to a nice cold ballpark.

I’m with you, Marty. Good lord, people are acting like we lost the series. RELAX. The Dodgers were gonna win a game. We’re leaving with the split, which is excellent. I think we’re gonna sweep at home.We could argue all night where the game was lost and whose fault it was. We lost – the series is tied. Let’s get them back at the bank. We are very much in control. You guys should have WAY, WAY more faith in this team and what they can and will do.

Like I said above, the result MIGHT have been different, but Utley still SHOULD have made that throw. It is possible to blame a player, get pissed, and STILL be a fan. It is possible to not see everything as rosie after after two mediocre games overall defensively (today offensively as well) and not be happy, but still hopeful that they can take the next 3. NEITHER team is playing well. The Phillies CAN beat this team, and HAS, but they still arent playing well overall, however even the worst play yesterday was Utley. Even in the 9th inning, his throw to Howard was high, and not that good. I dont know whats up with Utley, but to say he sucks or needs to be replaced as some people have said is insanity. He has had a few bad games. Doesnt mean get rid of him.

Pedro didn’t get hit hard AT ALL until the 7th inning. He ran out of gas. No problem taking him out there. It was the right move. Of course if he came back, the same people bitching about Pedro being replaced would have bitched about Pedro being left in. The 8th was a weird inning, plain and simple. Feliz just misses a ground ball. Park and howard miss a bunt. Utley’s error. A couple of walks including one with the bases loaded.

Momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. Phils got Lee. Dodgers have Koroda. Who has the momentum?

Im outta hereeeeeeeeeeee it’s friday night.
The phils are tied 1-1, we have lee and blanton the next two games in our ballpark, it’s october we’re still playing, we are defending world champions, we don’t have to troll on other teams blogs because our team sucks, life is pretty good.
Have a good night all and remember: We’re bringing it back to philly!!!!!!!

Did Pedro ask to come out of the game? As I recall there were no baserunners for LA in the 7th – Why in the hell did Charlie all of a sudden think he had to manage? Pedro should have started the 8th with Chan Ho warming up. He probably would have continued with a 1-2-3 inning and probably a complete game shut-out. But Nooooooooooo – Charlie had to go F–k with Pedro’s karma. If you’ve got enough confidence to start the guy why can’t you leave him alone until he allows a base runner or two?? For some of you guys all-over Chase’s ass the tie run would have scored on Thome’s single even with the double play. Once this game was tied it was over! Give Charlie the Jeltz of the Year Award for this one. OK I feel better now!

If I would allow myself to believe that Chase purposely did that, I couldn’t watch baseball anymore, that would ruin everything I love about this team. But I don’t think it’s beyond reason that he is not prepared properly for this series, and I think the rest of team knows why.

I dont think he did it intentionaly either. BUT it looks so damn bad. And rest assured there have been rigged big time sporting events in this country. Its foolish to think there hasnt been. Besides 1918 sox I mean.
whatever the deal is I have my eye on him. He is a goat to me now

By the way Neil O donnell in that Super Bowl when he just threw passes to that larry brown guy/scrub. That was intentional.
Thats kind of known the NFL keeps thier crap secret. Like NBA and all thier players on roids. Its jsut swept aside like Jordans phony “suspension”

One good thing: a game like this makes all players better. It was a great game. a thriller. Thank heavens we are not the Mets. or the Cardinals, or the Brewers. We are still World Champs and should enjoy it. It has been a great year and continues to be so. These nerve pills are wonderful except they leave my bowels a little loose. Oh well. GO PHILS

I wish Jimmy Rollins would learn to bunt. He misses 20-30 hits a year by not bunting. It brings the infield in. It gets him on base. His batting average and on-base-percentage climb. The guy shits as a leadoff hitter. Simply ineffective. Brett Butler — not as fast as Rollins — got about 30 hits a year by bunting.

Scott, you said a mouthful there-“Utley is too good to lapse like that twice.” That’s why I think there’s more to it than “lapsing”, but last season when I said he might be taking painkillers to get through an injury people jumped all over me, so I’d better not elaborate any more than I already have, but if you read my posts you’ll get the drift.

Well, I suppose the Jeliz Award will go to either Utley or Chan Ho in this game but many of the posters are right. It would not be fair to criticize anyone player on the team for this loss. It was a team loss. The pitching did a good job holding the Dodgers to only two runs in their home ballpark. Had the Phillies offense scored only two more runs, what all happened in the 8th inning would not have mattered. The Dodgers were lucky with Blake’s hit off of Feliz’s glove and Martin’s bunt which eluded Park and Howard. Happ did not get the calls on Ethier’s walk. With another umpire, maybe Happ gets the calls and Ethier gets called out on strikes. You get games like this once in a while; some you are lucky enough to win and some you aren’t. I am more concerned with the Phillies hitting, especially Rollins, Victorino and Werth, who the Dodgers have been holding down so far. Hopefully these guys will get going at home.

Looked to be more psychological than physiological, if you ask me. Rollins’s toss last night was a little off-time, so at least he had somewhat of an excuse then. But today — it was all between his ears…

It IS possible to have a few bad weeks. This IS a VERY long season. It IS possible to play like crap for a few weeks, or longer and still be good. It is possible to call a player out, and still think they are quality. Chase Utley has not been playing well, but dont lose site of what he CAN and HAS done, and PROBABLY will do again.

I agree with you Scott. Last night Rollin’s throw caused Utley to land in an awkward position in regards to where he landed with his feet after he caught it and he had to throw to first from that off-balance position. Today it was a tailor made double play and Utley just blew it. Kind of wonder if that cold and wet weather in Colorado has caused Utley some trouble with that surgically repaired hip and it is giving him trouble on the pivot when he throws trying to make the DP.

Again so no NFL NBA or MLB game has ever been fixed? Is you say no thats idiotic. I dont think its intentional. I do see the steve howe head case thing there was another play thursday night.
Something is off here.

A as always just having fun.
Utley strikes me as a Rose type who wouldnt throw a game. But
If he was throwing the hames wouldnt it look just like what happened tonight?
I will never understand why people get mad at other people on line. Its a crappy opinion. Who cares. Its BS. Having some fun after a crappy bad loss that was solely in my opinion on Chase Utley.

NO Free Pass, No other explanation IMO, he is simply playing like crap. Still doesnt mean we should get rid of him, still doesnt mean he will play like that the rest of the season. Either way, we are complaining about this in OCTOBER. We are only 1 of 2 teams left in the NL left to complain, is it really THAT bad? NO. We are ALL spoiled rotten now because of last year, and we all want a repeat, but repeat or not, we had had ALOT of great things to “argue” about. I would take a 1-1 series in the NLCS ANY DAY compared to maybe 2000, when the Phillies were 65-97 (looked the the Mets or 2009) and 30 games back, not to mention 126 days in First Place this season!

I wont be around sunday to post . But I will be putting stars in my score sheet for all suspicious plays! I am also suspecting J roll has been gotten too! Possibly madson. I am on the look out. Take care phillies fans.

As awesome as it would’ve been to take both from LA, this was somewhat of an expected result. This is going to be a hard fought series, one I would not be terribly surprised to go 7 games. Whats most frustrating to me is Rollins play. He needs to start getting on base somehow, as we all know how important he is. But Brian of CO is dead on, to be cheering for a team that is a DEFENDING CHAMPION is brand new to me. Bill Simmons once said that once your team wins a championship, you give them a 5 year leeway where you don’t complain about anything. Some of the people on here would be wise to take that advice.

I cannot believe people are actually suggesting that Chase is intentionally throwing these games or should be replaced. This is the same Chase who threw out the go ahead run at home plate in the WS game 5 with amazing defense. The same Chase that stopped the Dodger’s momentum in game 4 of the 2008 NLCS with an amazing unassisted diving double play. The guy who won game 3 of the NLDS for us this year by hustling to first base and who helped tie game 4 by working out a walk and running like a fiend to score from first on the Howard double.

He was completely off today and deserves blame for the loss (or at least creating the tie), but to say he threw it on purpose is RIDICULOUS.